Sandy Ramsey Collection
Scope and Contents
The collection contains correspondence written to Sandy Ramsey and Olivia Records materials including photographs mentions of Olivia in publications and Olivia Records newsletters. The majority of the collection contains Olivia Records meeting agendas. These agendas span 1976-1979.
Some materials of note include early Olivia documents from 1974, letters and responses to the attack on a transwoman, Sandy Stone, including a twelve-point response letter in Box 2, Folder 4 (including a 2018 article on the subject in Box 1, Folder 9), an original set of thirty Olivia Distributors newsletters, fundraising and membership appeals, and "anti-Olivia" materials including Noelle Hanrahan contesting her firing from Olivia.
Some materials in the collection discuss sensitive topics such as harmful ideas of transness in Box 2, Folder 4. A content warning has been included in the box content list for items the processing archivists identified as containing this triggering and harmful content. The Mazer welcomes an ongoing dialog with our community about generative ways to process and describe materials that contain or reflect systemic violence. We encourage you to contact the Mazer if other harmful content is found in this collection and/or to further this dialog. You can reach us at contact@mazerlesbianarchives.org.
Dates
- Creation: 1970-1980s
Conditions Governing Access
Property rights to the physical objects belong to the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or heir for permission to publish where the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives do not hold the copyright.
Conditions Governing Use
There are no restrictions on the collection. The collection is open for research.
Biographical Note
Sandy Ramsey became a distributor of womyn's music in the early 1970s while living in Albuquerque, New Mexico where she headed the Rape Crisis Center. She started a womyn's music newsletter for distributors across the country and began a production company that brought performers to Albuquerque.
She moved to Los Angeles, California in the mid-1970s and began working at Olivia Records. She handled distribution, was the road manager for Meg Christian, post production for all recordings, and worked on Olivia produced concerts, including two at Carnegie Hall.
In the mid-1980s, Ramsey left Olivia to form her own consulting business, closely working with womyn's music distributors and contract work for the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival.
Ramsey became a full-time employee for the festival in November 1986 and remained as so until the festival closed in 2016.
Source: Susan Ramsey's introduction donated with her collection.
Historical Note
Exerpts from a historical note written by Bonnie Morris:
Sandy Ramsey's papers are an extraordinary resource on the business side, collectivism, and reach of Olivia Records in its dynamic early years (1976-1978). Ramsey's preservation of these Olivia meeting notes are candid snapshots of realities, rivalries, and ribald good humor. The newsletters, as independent documents listing astonishing detail about music distribution and lists of distributors in every region, show the growth of a grassroots movement that had never before existed in America.
The entire collection is an arc of the impact Olivia Records had on women's self-esteem, professional re-invention, and artist growth. It's also an unsparing guide to the disagreements and confrontations (especially over transwoman engineer Sandy Stone and FEN, the Feminist Economic Network) that were signature "issues" in women's music: gender identity and money.
The Olivia distributor newsletters are veritable tabloids and address books of the lesbian cultural movement as it blossomed. One outtake from the last newsletter - Issue #30, October-November 1978 - reveals a great deal about changes brewing at Olivia and an early awareness of what is today called "intersectionality." This is an example of what might be very useful for someone doing research on women's music politics circa 1978.
-The full historical note can be accessed by contacting The Mazer.
Extent
1 Linear Feet (2 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Sandy Ramsey worked for Olivia Records in the 1970s where she handled distribution, artist management, post-production of records, and putting on concerts. She later worked for the Michigan Womyn's Music festival from the mid 1980s to 2016 when it ended.
Her collection includes Olivia Records material including meeting agendas, newsletters, and correspondence.
Some materials in the collection discuss sensitive topics such as harmful ideas of transness in Box 2, Folder 4. A content warning has been included in the box content list for items the processing archivists identified as containing this triggering and harmful content. The Mazer welcomes an ongoing dialog with our community about generative ways to process and describe materials that contain or reflect systemic violence. We encourage you to contact the Mazer if other harmful content is found in this collection and/or to further this dialog. You can reach us at contact@mazerlesbianarchives.org.
Arrangement
The collection has remained as organized by Sandy Ramsey herself. Many of the folder titles have remained but all original folders were discarded.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
In the early 1960s, Ramsey met early Mazer supporter/donor Diane Anderson and her partner Claudia and mowed their lawn for spending money. This resulted in a late life commitment on Sandy's part to the archive.
- Title
- Sandy Ramsey Collection
- Status
- In Progress
- Author
- Alisha Graefe
- Date
- 2025
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives Repository